Developing a Design Science for the Use of Problem Structuring Methods

Abstract

The considerable literature concerning problem structuring methods (PSMs) lacks, unfortunately, an understanding about how users gain relevant expertise. One element contributing to the acquisition of expertise is the availability of knowledge about standard practices. Making such knowledge about the use of PSMs accessible will therefore improve the support available to those seeking to gain or improve their expertise. It is argued here that viewing the use of PSMs as a Design Science provides a framework within which this knowledge may be formalised, evaluated, and presented. Knowledge within the Design Sciences is embodied in technological rules validated by field-testing in case studies and grounding against a suitable theoretical framework. Many examples of such rules centred on the models and representations used in PSMs are found in the existing literature. This is least helpful in showing how the methods are embedded in the broader context of intervention processes. Producing further, complementary rules focussed on this area of practice will both increase understanding of how PSMs are used and facilitate the acquisition of relevant expertise. This article identifies what these rules could consist of and suggests how they may be produced.

A decision support methodology to enhance the competitiveness of the Turkish automotive industry

“…For this purpose, we used a Delphi-type (Şahin 2001;Rowe and Wright, 2011) group decision making approach, which is a process oriented approach similar to other soft systems approaches (Keys, 2007). Expert judgments are found to be very useful in the literature to structure the problems, to indicate key variables and to examine the relationships among the variables (Morgan, 2005).…”

An exploration of the concept of design in information systems

“…In this way, the conceptualisation of design shifts slightly to generating solutions and, at times, redefining the problem in light of these emerging solutions (Kruger and Cross 2006). It is thus argued that design solves problems by being solution oriented, as involving designing or developing solutions to situations regarded as problematic by stakeholders (Keys 2007;van Aken 2007). These design problems are of certain types, however, with van Aken (2007) distinguishing between knowledge problems (which arise through limitations in knowledge) and field problems (which arise from a recognition or desire to realise a better social reality).…”

“…This view of design serves to emphasise the subjective nature of interpretation and value judgments made about the problem at hand, the intended audience, and so on. Considering design as a professional practice implies a need to think much more closely about the knowledge, skills and attributes required of designers as they conceptualise and realise artefacts intended to improve problem situations (Friedman 2003;Keys 2007), and hence, a need to retain a 'sense of design as a pluralistic and multiple activity, a synthesis of heterogeneous activities defined not by the separate activities, but by their integration' (Dilnot 1982:141).…”

“…The context in which the problem is embedded is thus critical to successful design. The designer must, in addition to the skill requirements for designing in a particular field, have insights into and appreciation of the cultural, political and moral aspects of social forces that shape individual perspectives of the problem and that of possible solutions (Keys 2007). …”

Review. Supporting problem structuring with computer-based tools in participatory forest planning

“…A mutual learning process for selecting and adapting appropriate models to working with the forest management planning problem at hand is thus proposed to overcome barriers between modellers and stakeholders in the planning process (Siebenhüner and Barth, 2005). In "ideal" PS, the qualitative social process of group negotiation is therefore seamlessly linked with quantitative decision analysis techniques of computerized decision support systems in a way that supports different knowledge types (Kotiadis and Mingers, 2006;Keys, 2007;Montibeller et al, 2006). In other words, PS can be a mixedmethods endeavor with consideration of blended knowledge forms.…”